Egypt increased electricity prices by up to 42 per cent on Thursday, a week after hiking fuel prices as part of tough economic reforms.
The new rises depending on consumption levels will take effect as of this month, Minister of Electricity, Mohammed Chaker said, according to state television.
“The ministry has a plan to phase out electricity subsidy by 2021,” he added.
The latest hikes cut the electricity subsidy in the country’s new fiscal year starting in July by 32 billion Egyptian pounds (around 1.7 billion dollars), private newspaper al-Masry al-Youm reported.
On June 29, the government increased petrol prices by 43 to 55 per cent, the second such increase in less than a year.
The price of the cooking butane gas has doubled while that of natural gas has increased by 25 per cent.
The government has defended the subsidy cuts, saying they are necessary to heal Egypt’s ailing economy.
In November, Egypt slashed the fuel subsidy and floated the local pound, measures that secured the country an IMF bailout loan of 12 billion dollars over three years.
The November steps triggered a spate of price increases in different goods and services in the country.
Many of Egypt’s population, now estimated at 93 million people, have long relied on subsidies for basic products.
Annual inflation hit a record 30.9 per cent in May.
Egypt’s economy has been battered by the unrest that followed a 2011 uprising, which deposed long-time president Hosny Mubarak. (dpa/NAN)
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